G20 summit: US all praise for India, newly planned economic corridor

The US has praised India for hosting the G20 summit, calling it a big "success", and hailed the landmark India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) which it said will boost economic growth.

A day before the New Delhi summit ended on Sunday, the ambitious IMEC was jointly announced by leaders of the US, India, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, France, Germany, Italy, and the European Union. The economic corridor is seen as an alternative to China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

On Monday, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said: "It was a landmark (IMEC) that we believe will usher in a new era of connectivity from Europe to Asia that will stimulate economic growth, economic development, as well as cooperation on energy and digital connectivity.

“The MoU is among the United States, India, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, EU and other G20 partners to explore a shipping and rail transportation corridor that will enable the flow of commerce, energy, and data from India, the Middle East and Europe,” he said.

Summit success

Miller said that the G20 summit in New Delhi “was a big success”. Pointing out that there are divergent views in G20, he said: “The fact that the organisation was able to issue a statement that calls for respecting territorial integrity and sovereignty and saying that those principles should not be violated is an extremely important statement because that is exactly what is at the heart of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine”.

Miller added that US President Joe Biden “had a number of pull-asides with leaders of other countries where we were actively advancing the foreign policy priorities of the United States, including engaging on the war in Ukraine”.

The G20 member countries represent around 85 per cent of the global GDP, over 75 per cent of the global trade and about two-thirds of the world population.

(With agency inputs)